


The Beginnings of a Phantom

by orphan_account



Series: Phantom Thief [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, PhantomThief!John
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-14
Updated: 2013-06-01
Packaged: 2017-12-11 21:36:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/803515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU.It took 3 events for John Watson to consider being a Phantom Thief as another occupation to get his sense of adventure and there would always be an audience for him even if he knows this or not, one inform of a criminal mastermind and the other in form of a consulting detective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginnings of a Phantom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Betaed by: Earlyable, who is very kind and thoughtful.

John Hamish Watson, age 6 1/2 years, son of Emilia Watson and Hamish Watson, and brother to Harriet Donna Watson, was by far the most likeable child in the class 0f 1-B.

Polite, Honest and Obedient are the most common adjectives used to describe him by his teachers and classmates but the world is unfair and the weak is preyed upon, the school bullies who take and take even when punished remain undeterred and one day John decides that they have taken it way to far.

It was afternoon and school had just finished. John was playing with his friend Mary who had brought Mr. Bear with her that afternoon to show John. The gift given to her by her dearest grandmother, Oma Lulu from Germany.

John, who had been taught to always be polite and chivalrous to females, gave the toy genuine praises; making Mary smile brightly.

And it is here that the story begins.

Michael, age 7 2/3 years, was the typical bully, stronger and bigger than the other children. He preyed on the weak and took things from them for his amusement.Today he had his eyes on young Mary and her precious Mr. Bear.

With a mischievous grin he strode to John and Mary and callously interrupted their conversation.

"Hello," He greeted with a big grin on his face, John immediately had a guarded look on his face, distrustful of Michael's smile, while Mary was terrified and started squeezing the stuffing out of Mr. Bear.

"What a wonderful bear you have there, Mary," Michael said, immediately sending alarm bells off in John's head.

"Thank you, Michael," Mary mumbled as she hugged Mr. Bear tighter.

"Would you mind if I took a look at it?" Michael asked as John frowned.

Mary scrunched her face in worry. On the one hand she didn't trust Michael; On the other she didn’t want to get hurt. She fidgeted and clutched Mr. Bear even closer to her body and John immediately stepped forward and answered for her.

"No. She won't and you can't force her." John said fiercely, defiant in the face of the bigger boy.

Michael frowned angrily and shoved John to the side roughly; at the same time grabbing the bear from Mary, who was shocked. 

"Too bad, isn't it?" He taunted and made a run for it as Mary, with a face full of tears, worried at John who had scraped his knees. 

"Don't cry, Mary." John says comfortingly as he strokes Mary's face as he had seen his father do to his mother. "I'll get Mr. Bear back for you." He promises and Mary blushes as John smiles because his smiles are that comforting

John walked Mary home that afternoon, because it is proper for a man to walk a woman home, and when Mrs. Morstan asked where Mr. Bear had got to, John answered, with a smile, “He’s on vacation, ma’am,” and headed back home, which was just over the road.

That night when everyone in the house had fallen asleep John went out  his window and escaped  the house. He quickly headed to Michael's home at 42 Fremond Street. John looked at his surroundings and when he  deemed it safe, he crept to the front gates and looked if there was anyone awake, Seeing none he proceeded to scale the gate using some nearby bins for a boost. He jumped over and landed quietly before quickly making his way to the front gates. 

Jimmying the old lock with a pin, John entered quietly and searched for Mr. Bear on the first floor, going through the living room followed by the parlor and then to the play room where he  saw the other toys Michael had stolen. He took a few of the smaller ones and placed them in his pocket. Still seeing no sign of the bear, he went to the study and quickly spotted Mr. Bear on one of the shelves. He strode to the shelf and took it.

The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed in the hallway and John hastened to the window and jumped out of it, the grass softening his landing, and ran to gates with his hood up .  He ran until he reached Staniland Avenue but before he went home he went up the tree conveniently placed in front of Mary's room and perched Mr. Bear on the open window sill.  


Later at school Mary would kiss him on the cheek as a silent thank you and he would smile back. He would then secretly give back the little toys and trinkets stolen by Michael to their respective owners and the rest of the day would continue as usual for John Hamish Watson, age  6 ½ years, son of Emilia Watson and Hamish Watson, and brother to Harriet Donna Watson, who had just successfully finish his first caper.


	2. Gentleman Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> October 15 2005 was what set the mark for the two unlikely friends to become who they were 5 years later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> V&A Museum = Victoria and Albert Museum  
> Nero italian for black
> 
> Beated by the very kind earlyable :3

The year John turned 16 was the year his first, true caper happened. Of course at that time he was young and a bit naïve, but regardless he would not deny the thrill of successfully stealing a Spanish gold and emerald pendant from the V&A Museum with his closest friend.

They became friends when the mathematical genius had offered to tutor John for his Calculus class.

Are you really sure that you just plan to be a mathematics professor?" John asked as he laid his head on the table, lazily playing with his friend's ballpoint pen. Jim on the other hand merely glanced at John and chuckled, "What else am I supposed to do? That's what everyone expects of me."

 

John unabashedly pouted and complained, "But Jim you could be so much more!"

 

His friend looked at him and reached for John's unruly hair, twirling it between his fingers and adopted a bored tone as he spoke, "And what else could I be?"

 

"A consultant...of sorts?" John answered completely ignoring the intimacy of Jim's actions as he was already use to it. Jim stopped his actions and laughed amusedly making John pout even more.

"What's so funny?"

"If I'm going to be a consultant then what would you be other than a surgeon?" Jim asked for the sake of humor.

 

"I’d be a thief like Lupin ." John said with a challenging smile now sitting up properly and once again Jim is left looking at John with sheer fascination. Because what Jim likes the most about John is his endless stream of surprises; a constant enigma that hides in plain sight and he relishes that fact among many other things. As John urges Jim's curiosity he observes his friend who is made of sheer brilliance; Jim, who never fails to be interesting.

"You're planning a heist." Jim whispered as he leanedforwards to John who mimicked his action.

"Not so much as a heist." John teased with a smirk wide on his face.

"What do you mean?" Jim said annoyed that his friend won't simply come out and tell him

 

 "The definition of heist is to rob an institution, bank or museum for a large haul." John said. "Though if you do count the value of the pendant then I guess you could say it is a heist." John added as an afterthought.

"Pendant?" Jim murmured and it clicked quite suddenly into place . "You'll be robbing the V&A museum?!" He whispered, utterly shocked with John's plan.

John grinned and gestured for them to go out and Jim followed.

 

That night Jim and John prepared multiple plans for their heist and continued to do so spanning one month of secret planning in cafes and libraries.

And as the time passed (both slowly and quickly in turn) John discovered the thrill of stealing things like Lupin and Jim subconsciously saw the pleasure of meticulous manipulations and scheming for this heist.

 

 

tap tap tap

"He's on the west wing!" bellowed one of the yarders.

 

'They're fast' John thought, he quickened his pace and threw a canister of tear gas that Jim had made up two weeks ago as he maneuvered he way through the corridors. He smiled in satisfaction upon hearing the curses of the sergeants. Bringing out his call card he placed it swiftly and elegantly on the window sill and scaled down the side of the building and ran into the shadows of London, laughing merrily.

John stopped upon ensuring that no one had followed him and brought out his mobile and sent a text to his partner-in-crime.

_Dinner?_

A minute later uponas he is changing in the stall he receives the answer.

_Italian, you’re buying_

John smiled and hurried back to his friend.

The next day as John atehis breakfast with Jim they both shared mischievous smiles as the morning news documented their first shared heist.

"Last night at 11:30 PM a theft occurred at the V&A museum in which the prized and newly arrived Spanish gold and emerald pendant was stolen. According to sources our gentleman thief has left a calling card."

The news anchor showed the card which merely said;

> _From Nero, with love_
> 
>  

"According to one eye witness report, our dear gentleman thief is as handsome as Adonis, himself."

"Adonis?" Jim says teasingly which John shrugged off with a smile.

"So, how hard would it be to return the pendant?" John asked as he sips his tea making Jim laugh.

"Johnny, you are an endless fascination... probably harder only by a point." Jim answered and John smirked as they finished up breakfast and headed to school both preparing for their next move.

Six years later both of them would be known in the underground as formidable forces and both would come to the attention of the Holmes brothers.

 


	3. Thief of Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sherlock Holmes at the young age of 18 met the slowly gaining fame Nero on roof of the Holmes in Paris, he would never for the life of his admit to anyone that it was the first time he was caught off guard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> italics are spoken in french  
> gendarmerie and police are two of the three main forces of Paris under the ministry of interior  
> the event happened on the year 2008 making John and Jim a year older than Sherlock

If one  asked Sherlock Holmes what caused his extreme interest with the world renowned thief Nero he would look at you in the eye with a raised brow and answer you, in a tone that screams obvious, "He's Nero." And be on his way, coat flapping in the air as he strides and hails a cab and you would be left in his wake befuddled.

Because for the life of him, Sherlock Holmes would not admit to being caught off guard by the clever thief while perched on the roof of the Holmes family house in Paris as the thief escaped the Parisian police by running across the closely packed rooftops of France. Coincidentally landing on the very roof the then young Sherlock Holmes was perched on. Sherlock had just turned 18 and was up there to escape his older brother Mycroft who had started lecturing him about his smoking habit and was taking the chance to spite him by smoking a cigarette while he had the chance when the soft landing of a blond and well-built thief startled him .

Nero, as Sherlock later learned, was the thief's name and he had first heard of him when he was 15  The man turned his head with the grace of a curious cat to look at Sherlock and pivoted to regard him with a look that, until recently, he could not decipher as the thief in question was particularly good at hiding himself, Five years down the road, Sherlock Holmes would admit that the thief, Nero, had no person behind the mask.

" _What's a pretty thing like you doing here unguarded_ " He asked in fluent French.

Sherlock merely frowned at him, which only made the man chuckle.

 

" _Come on, now surely you can spare me some time to chat?_  " He said invitingly that, if this man was not carrying a purely stolen painting from the Louvre, Sherlock would have definitely been friends with him had they met earlier.

 

" _F_ _or a thief that is being hunted by both the Gendarmerie and Police you seem so lax"_ Sherlock answered cheekily as he stood up and stubbed out his fag.

" _W_ _orry not, my dear_ " Nero said as he suddenly took hold of Sherlock's left hand and brought it to his lips kissing its knuckles softly and sweetly that even the coldness of Parisian nights would not be enough to cause the bright red that colored Sherlock's pretty cheeks, " _For no one can ever catch the darkness._ "

 

That would be the first time Sherlock Holmes would not be able to read anyone.

 

" _Nero,_ " he marveled, finally connecting the dots and at that moment the man, who now had a name in Sherlock's head, smiled and pulled him for a sweet and chaste kiss before running once more, now that his pursuers were hot on his tail. Sherlock, despite being caught off guard, could not forget the playful smile the clever thief left nor the fact that on that night  Nero had stolen two things; but these things would come to mind after Sherlock had regained his cognitive function a few seconds later and ran to the ledge seeking out the signs of Nero.

The only evidence the thief had left was the scrape marks from his jump and the darkness of Paris' back streets.

 

Three years later, hidden in a little plain wooden box among the other trinkets Sherlock Holmes had collected was a plain silver paper with nothing but an elegant black script with the written words;

_From Nero, with love_

And perhaps sometimes Sherlock would spend some time wondering if the charming thief ever remembered him or thought of him on cold nights but Sherlock would stomp that thought dead, because if the rumors were true Nero charmed every person that caught his eye and then he would be on his way. In his subconscious he liked to think that his heart was stolen on that cold night by the thief who perhaps fancied him along with the thought that one day Nero would hopefully steal him away too.

One day when Sherlock tells this to his friend and occasional assistant John he would berate himself in the privacy of his mind for romanticizing it but John's fond smile would make up for it.  



End file.
